The Copyright Lobby’s IIPA Report: Fake News About the State of Canadian Copyright
Michael Geist, 2017/02/22

Michael Geist writes about this year's annual misrepresentation of the state of copy protection and media in Canada by the the International Intellectual Property Alliance (IIPA), a lobby group that represents the major lobbying associations for music, movie, software, and book publishing in the United States. In particular, he focuses on three areas:

• The state of Canadian Piracy, which the IIPA reports as rising, when in fact the Business Software Alliance’s annual report last showed Canada at its lowest software piracy rate ever 
• The notice-and-notice system, which the IIPA says is not receiving full compliance from ISPs, and which hurts licensed services, when in pact there is nearly full compliance by ISPs, and licensed services are earning strong returns in Canada
• Fair dealing, which the IIPA has attacked on several grounds, but which consistent with fair dealing regimes around the world, and are more stringent than many, including fair use in the United States

As Canada routinely states every year, "Canada does not recognize the 301 watch list process. It basically lacks reliable and objective analysis. It’s driven entirely by U.S. industry."

[Link] [Comment]

Kaltura Launches Lecture Capture Solution
Rhea Kelly, Campus Technology, 2017/02/22

This is just something I want to keep handy for when I talk to people who already have a Kaltura system running. It seems like a pretty easy way to make a lot of learning resources. Or course the quality and value might vary, but creating something is infinitely better than creating nothing.

[Link] [Comment]

The Challenge of Non-Disposable Assignments
Alan Levine, CogDogBlog, 2017/02/22

Non-disposable Assignments (NDAs, though he agrees a better acronym is needed) are assignments that ase seen by more than just the student and the person grading them. They can be thought of as open educational resources, but the status as OERs connotes qualities that may not be there. The challenge of NDAs is to create these assignments in such a way that they are actually non-disposable, and not just disposable assignments published in an open way. "It takes a lot of effort to move past the first impulse of writing ones that sound like they are answering a question or a series of questions. Those have an odor of 'disposable-ness'."

[Link] [Comment]

Anthony Johnson Brings 'Johnsonville' to Life
Richard Chang, THE Journal, 2017/02/22

My grade 8 class created a model society. I was one of the two banks in our community. It was too much work, I didn't clear the cheques, and the town economy collapsed. But the idea was sound in principle. Later, as part of my MuniMall project, I created something called MuniVille, which again could be a simulated environment for town managers and elected officials. Once again, my ambition far exceeded my abilities, though fortunately no economies collapsed (and the MuniMall community I developed ran for the next ten years). So I like the concept of Johnsonville as described in this article and wish founder Anthony Johnson the best in his "world where each student must find a job, pay the bills, pay mortgage and taxes, and learn by doing projects."

[Link] [Comment]

Looking (again) to Domain of One’s Own
Martha Burtis, The Fish Wrapper, 2017/02/22

it's good to see a look at a project some time after it has launched and some time after it has (largely) passed into new hands and new ownership. Such is the case with this post on Domain of One's Own. "As faculty have continued to integrate DoOO into their classes, students have continued to engage with the project in a variety of ways." Fer what it's worth, I've been working recently on properly virtualizing gRSShopper - basically setting it up in a complete self-sustaining box that can be easily ported to new environments. I have applications like Domain of One's Own in mind (not that I've told them any of this).

[Link] [Comment]

25 Years Without a Raise
Colleen Flaherty, Inside Higher Ed, 2017/02/22

Adjunct instructors at Youngstown State University threw themselves a party this week to mark 25 years without a pay increase. "It’s 'fair to say that our president and provost recognize that that's a problem and, while we are facing some difficult budget challenges like most in higher ed, [we’re] committed to trying to rectify that situation," said university spokesperson Ron Cole. It's hard to see how you could recognize something as a problem and do nothing about it for 25 years. A more honest statement would probably say something about how embarrassed they are by this situation and how much they wish it hadn't attracted international attention. Image: Michelle N.

[Link] [Comment]